Ladder Rack for Garments, Footwear, and Household Articles

ABSTRACT

An organization and storage rack having a ladder-like frame with rungs and hooks designed to receive items such as garments, footwear, and other household articles. By extending the rungs through a ladder-like frame, along with knobs at the rung tips, this rack allows items to be densely places without the need for traditional clothing hangers or other accessories. It can safely store a large amount and variety of garments and footwear without risk of damage from sharp hooks or hangers. It can either be leaned like a ladder against an upright surface or hung on the back of a door or other upright surface.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

Not Applicable

STATEMENT REGARDING FEDERALLY SPONSORED RESEARCH OR DEVELOPMENT

Not Applicable

REFERENCE TO SEQUENCE LISTING, A TABLE, OR A COMPUTER PROGRAM LISTING COMPACT DISK APPENDIX

Not Applicable

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

The present invention is in the technical field of garment organization. More particularly, the present invention is in the technical field of racks designed to organize and dry garments, footwear, and other household articles.

Clothing racks are generally used for storing or drying clothing in personal settings as well as in commercial setting for transporting or displaying clothes for sale and marketing. Traditional garment rack designs often use clothing hangers to hold individual garments or are limited to holding only a few articles using hooks. Furthermore, few clothing rack designs are suitable for placement in bedrooms and other living spaces.

Currently, the most typical places for people to store their clothing and apparel items are in closets, drawers, and bins. This is generally convenient for clean clothing that hasn't been worn since being washed. A problem common for many people is where to place clothing that has been worn once or twice since washing and can be worn again before re-washing. It's usually not desirable to refold worn clothes and place it in contact with clean clothes, so people generally leave these articles piled up or draped over random objects.

Accordingly, there is a need for an improved clothing rack to quickly store and organize clothes between washes while minimizing the amount of room space required.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The present invention is a rack used to organize and dry garments, shoes, and other household articles made of cloth. There are two variations of this invention that allow it to either be leaned like a ladder against an upright surface (version 1) or hung on the back of a door or other upright surface (version 2).

Both versions of this invention feature a plurality of rungs on a ladder-like frame for holding items. The rungs extend through the ladder frame to receive items on both the inside and outside of the frame, as well as being hung on the rung tips. By extending the rungs through the ladder frame this design allows items to be densely places on the rack without the need for traditional clothing hangers or other accessories. Knobs are placed along the upper backing frame of both versions to hang additional garments or accessories such as hats and belts.

Version 1 of this invention leans against an upright surface and has an upper and lower section for clothing and shoes respectively. Clothing rungs are for cloth-like garments or accessories such as belts or handbags and shoe rungs are for footwear and other rigid items. Shoe rungs are placed in pairs on a wider ladder frame to create level planes at each step of ladder. This configuration creates an effectively flat surface while using the same ladder design and building material as the clothing section. Optional shelves and bins can be laid on top of the shoe rungs to create a solid surface for items that can't be held directly on the shoes rungs. To enable smaller packaging and storage area the rack can be disassembled into two halves at the junction of the upper and lower sections.

Version 2 of this invention hangs on the back of a door or other upright surface and has a rung configuration similar to the clothing section of version 1. Its ladder frame is connected at the top to a hinged backing frame attached to door hangers. The rack can be braced at an angle, using optional legs, for easy loading and unloading of items or hung flat in parallel with the door to save space. To brace the rack at an angles the bottom of the rack is pulled away from the door allowing a pair of hinged legs to fall into place. To restore it to a flat position the legs are manually flipped up allowing the bottom of the rack to swing flat against the door. When the bottom legs are not included the rack can be manually swung away from the door while items are loaded.

The ladder-like design of this rack offers easy access and visibility of the contained items using a simple light-weight construction that requires minimal room space. It can safely store a large amount and variety of garments, footwear, and accessories without risk of damage from sharp hooks or hangers.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of version 1 of the present invention;

FIG. 2 is a side view of version 1 of the present invention;

FIG. 3 is a fragmented perspective view of the connection point between the top and bottom portions of version 1 of the present invention;

FIG. 4 is a fragmented perspective view of the bottom portion of version 1 of the present invention with an optional accessory shelf;

FIG. 5 is a perspective view of the closed state of version 2 of the present invention;

FIG. 6 is a perspective view of the open state of version 2 of the present invention;

FIG. 7 is a fragmented perspective view of the top joint and hook portion of version 2 of the present invention.

FIG. 8 is a fragmented perspective view of the folding legs at the bottom portion of version 2 of the present invention; and

FIG. 9 is a fragmented perspective view of an alternative design of the folding legs at the bottom portion of version 2 of the present invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

Referring now to the invention in more detail, FIG. 1 to FIG. 4 shows version 1 of the rack, which leans against a wall, and FIG. 5 to FIG. 9 shows version 2, which hangs on the back of doors.

FIG. 1 shows version 1 of the rack having a narrower upper ladder frame 4 for cloth-like garments or accessories, such as handbags or belts, and a lower wider ladder frame 5 for rigid items such as footwear. The upper ladder frame supports clothing rungs 1 that pass through the frame 4 and have optional knobs at the tips 3. Garments, such as pants and shirts, can be draped over the center area of the rungs 15 or the outer area 16 as well as hooked on the knobs 3. The wider lower ladder frame 5 supports pairs of shoe rungs 2 that create level planes at each step of rung pairs. Shoe rungs may or may not have knobs, such as 3, at the tips depending on the choice of design. Like the upper frame, pairs of shoes can be placed in the center area of the rungs 15. The outer area of the rungs 16 can either support pairs or single shoes depending on the width of the rack and/or shoes. Extra spacing 17 is added between the clothing rungs 1 and shoe rungs 2 to provide separation between garments and footwear. FIG. 4 shows optional shelves 40 and bins 41 that can be placed on the shoe rungs to create addition types of storage.

FIGS. 1 and 2 show version 1 of the rack leaning against an upright surface. The ladder frame is fixed at an angle 11 to an upper backing frame 10 and a base 9 to position the rack at an angle and provide stability. The areas of the backing frame 10 and base 9 that are in contact with the wall and floor are lined with a soft non-slip surface to keep the rack in place and avoid damaging the wall or floor. The backing frame 10 also has knobs 6 to hang additional garments or accessories.

FIG. 1 through 3 shows the joint 7 connecting the upper 4 and lower 5 frames of the rack. FIG. 3 more clearly shows the interconnection of these components. A cam-lock connector 8, such as the Hafele Minifix®, is secured to a corresponding bolt 12 to lock the upper 4 and lower 5 fames together.

FIG. 5 and FIG. 6 show version 2 of the rack in the closed and open positions respectively. To transition from the closed position to the open position the bottom of the rack 32 is pulled away from the door allowing gravity to lock the legs 21 in place and brace the ladder frame at an angle—as if it were leaning against the door. FIG. 8 more clearly shows the transition of the legs. The bottom edge of the frame 20 is cut at an angle 28 causing the legs 21 to lock at the desired angle. Each leg 21 is independently attached to the frame 20 by a hinge 26 to enable the legs 21 to swing freely between the open and closed position. To transition the rack from the open to the closed position the legs 21 are manually flipped up, in parallel with the frame 20, allowing the rack to swing flat against the door. FIG. 9 shows an alternative design for the bracing legs 21. In this figure the ends of the legs 21 are cut at an angle and hinged 34 on the inside of the ladder frame 20. The presence of the legs 21 are optional and may vary in material and how they are hinged at the frame 20.

FIG. 7 shows the top of the rack where the ladder frame 20 is connected to the hinged backing frame 21. The top of the ladder frames 20 have holes at the top with a dowel passing through the holes to create a hinge 24. The inside edges of the frame 33 are rounded to provide clearance for the swinging frame. The hinge dowel 23 is fixed to support blocks 22 to keep it in place. Similar to version 1, the backing frame 21 also has knobs 31 to hang additional garments or accessories. To attach the rack to the door rigid hooks 25, typically made of metal, wrap over the top of the door and around the backing frame 21. The backing frame 21 can slide in and out of the top opening of the hooks 25 to place or remove the rack from the door.

To use the rack, garments are simply draped or hung on the dowels 1,29 and knobs 3,6,30,31. In version 1 of the rack footwear can also be placed flat across the pair of dowels 2 at each step of the lower ladder section. In version 2 the rack is typically pulled into the open position, shown in FIG. 6, to add or remove items and restored to the closed position, shown in FIG. 7, for storage. To store the rack, version 1 can be disassembled in the middle 7, shown in FIG. 3, and version 2 can be slid in and out of the hooks 25, shown in FIG. 7.

In further detail, referring to version 1 of the rack in FIG. 1, the rungs 1 are sufficiently wide and thick to support typical garments and footwear, such as about 24 to 30 inches wide and about ¾ inches in diameter. The ladder frame 4,5 are sufficiently long to hold multiple levels of rungs with reasonable spacing between rungs and total rack length, such as the combined length of 4 and 5 is about 60 inches. Referring to version 2 of the rack in FIG. 6, similar to version 1, the rungs 29 are sufficiently wide the thick to support typical garments. However, the rungs 29 in version 2 may be slightly shorter to fit within the width of a typical door, such as about 20 inches wide. The length of the ladder frame 20 is sufficiently long to hold multiple levels of rungs with reasonable spacing between rungs and total rack length suitable for the back of a door, such as the length of 20 is about 36 inches.

The building materials and precise shapes of components may vary. The construction details of the invention as shown in FIG. 1 through 9 are that the rack may be made of wood or of any other sufficiently rigid and strong material such as high-strength plastic, metal, and the like. Further, the various components of the rack can be made of different materials.

While the foregoing written description of the invention enables one of ordinary skill to make and use what is considered presently to be the best mode thereof, those of ordinary skill will understand and appreciate the existence of variations, combinations, and equivalents of the specific embodiment, method, and examples herein. The invention should therefore not be limited by the above described embodiment, method, and examples, but by all embodiments and methods within the scope and spirit of the invention. 

The claims defining the invention are as follows:
 1. A ladder rack having a plurality of rungs on a ladder-like frame in which the rungs are solid pieces that extend through the ladder frame such that the ladder rungs are accessible on both the inside and outside of the ladder frame.
 2. The ladder rack according to claim 1, wherein the rungs are arranged in sets of 2 or more on a wider frame to create a level plane at each step of the ladder rack.
 3. The ladder rack according to claim 1, wherein the ladder frame is attached with a hinge at the top to a horizontal cross-frame, which enables the ladder frame to swing outward at the base while remaining fixed at the top to the horizontal cross-frame attached to an upright surface, such as a door.
 4. The ladder rack according to claim 3, wherein hinged legs are attached to the bottom of the ladder frame such that: the frame can be manually pulled outward at the base to allow the hinged legs to extend into place; the legs are cut or attached in a way that limits the travel of the hinge such that the legs lock at the desired angle to brace the ladder frame at an angle against an upright surface, such as a door.
 5. The ladder rack according to claim 1, wherein an upper segment containing single rungs and a lower segment containing sets of rungs can be joined or disassembled, such as with cam-lock connectors.
 6. The ladder rack according to claim 1, wherein knobs are placed on the tips of the ladder rungs to facilitate hanging items on the rung tips.
 7. The ladder rack according to claim 1, wherein the members of the ladder frame are attached at the top to a solid horizontal cross-frame to strengthen the ladder frame, create a more stable surface when leaning the rack against an upright surface, and providing an area for additional hooks, knobs, or trays.
 8. The ladder rack according to claim 1, wherein the members of the ladder frame are attached at the bottom to a solid horizontal cross-frame to strengthen the ladder frame and create a more stable base when leaning the rack against an upright surface.
 9. The ladder rack according to claim 2, wherein solid or semi-solid shelves or bins, made of material such as wood, plastic, or wire mesh, can be placed on top of the rung sets to create additional types of storage. 